AASHE Campus Sustainability Hub

The Graduate Certificate in Global Sustainability is intended to prepare students to address complex regional, national, and global challenges related to sustainability and the ability to innovate in diverse cultural, geographic, and demographic contexts. The Certificate is unique as the curriculum is fully integrated to provide a systems perspective for learning and development of an analytical perspective. The target student audience can come from a diverse array of backgrounds and career interests as the program provides a sustainability framework to be used as a foundation for any career. The primary goal is to foster sustainability principles and critical thinking, equipping students with the tools needed to address the grand challenges of sustainability.

The Certificate in Global Sustainability insures understanding of the principles of sustainability and the interdependence of the environment, the economy, and social systems to become effective stewards of natural resources and the environment. The Certificate seeks to advance students’ ability to understand and address real-world environmental problems; apply systems approach to manage social-ecological systems; and develop critical thinking skills for affection decisions involving environmental policy, resource management, biodiversity conservation, and human health. The Certificate takes a pragmatic systems perspective and holistic approach to address issues of sustainability that consider water, energy, and food sustainability and security.

Students completing the Certificate will achieve an advanced understanding of the sciences of sustainability; its real world application; and increase opportunity for job advancement. The Certificate will allow students from diverse backgrounds to pursue interests in sustainability sciences in some depth without requiring the breadth of course work and extensive research required for the Master’s degree.

• Link: Program page